The United Arab Emirates sits atop among its GCC peers in The Network
Readiness Index 2015, which forms a part of the Global Information
Technology Report 2015, co-published by the World Economic Forum, Insead
and Cornell University, with the support of Strategy&, formerly
Booz & Company and Cisco.

The ranking lists three GCC countries in the top 30 list globally for
the third consecutive year. The UAE comes on the 23rd slot on the global
ranking followed by Qatar at 27 and Bahrain at the 30th position.

The UAE particularly has made continuous progress year-on-year underling
its role as the regional leader when it comes to information and
communication technology (ICT). The country stood 25th in 2013, 24th in
2014 and 23rd in 2015 world ranking.

“Spectacular progress has been made in both in the environment pillar
(business climate and regulatory environment in particular) as well as
on the usage front (in which business innovation capacities have
improved significantly). The UAE is also a typical example of how the
growth of talents and skills is key to improving competitiveness, as the
country has moved from a worldwide ranking of 33rd to 23rd on that
pillar,” said Bruno Lanvin, co-editor of the report, Executive Director,
Global Indices, Insead.

Saudi Arabia comes 35th on the list and Oman 42nd in the top 50,
demonstrating that they continue to embrace ICT to boost their national
competitiveness.

“GCC countries continue to perform well in the global ICT arena, with
three countries in the global top 30,” said Bahjat El Darwiche , Partner
at Strategy&, and leader of the firm’s Communication, Media, and
Technology practice in the Middle-East.

“However, opportunity exists for the region to enhance its ICT
competitiveness. Several countries have slipped in the last year with
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt all regressing by up to four
ranks in the last year.”

In contrast, countries in the Levant and North Africa still lag behind
and face challenges to fully leverage ICT, including Morocco (78), Egypt
(94), Lebanon (99) and Algeria (120).

Data from the report’s Networked Readiness Index (NRI), which benchmarks
143 economies in terms of their capacity to prepare for, use and
leverage ICTs, suggest that the gap between the best and worst
performing economies is widening.

Those in the top 10 per cent have seen twice the level of improvement since 2012 as those in the bottom 10 per cent.